president barack obama has broken off his christmas vacation to resume talks on the so-called fiscal cliff, taxes and spending cuts unless democrats and republicans reach a deal by new year's eve. >> nearly all the major players in those negotiations are starting to agree on one thing, and that is that a deal is virtually impossible by that deadline. senior officials say there is little hope of a grand bargain to shave trillions of dollars off of america's mountain of debt. >> applause for the bell at the start of the trading day is a daily ritual at the new york stock exchange, despite the enthusiasm, traders are keeping an anxious eye on share prices. the fiscal cliff is on everyone's mind. u.s. treasury secretary timothy geithner has warned that his department will need to take extraordinary measures to postpone the upcoming government defaults. he plans adjustments to the national budget that would give the u.s. two months of grace. president barack obama has said he is still hopeful that a resolution can be reached this year. he cut short his vacation in hawaii to restart negoti